Nancy's JL Drabbles Take Two
by Nancy Brown
Summary: Complete. Another set of JL based drabbles. Added: Lost Bet
1. Prelude

**Prelude  
**(followup to "Shellshocked")

Kent has powerful magics protecting his home; he mentally contacts Inza to tell her be on her guard. Although the other Batman is world-weary and sore, they must be prepared.

"The parents are dead," says Lord Batman. "The father a few months ago, the mother …"

" … yesterday," Kent finishes with him.

"The Lantern, he's alive in your world."

"Yes." Broken, grieving, but alive.

"It has no future in my world. In yours, it has a chance, however small. If you told him she left the egg here for safety's sake, he'd believe you."

"Yes," Kent says, in acknowledgment and acceptance.


	2. The Charm

**The Charm  
**for evillittletwit

The first time he saw her, she was on the news. _Cute girl_, he'd thought, and not much else. There were things to do and places to run to so very fast.

The second time was at Superman's funeral. She'd been crying and so had he and they hadn't talked at all.

The third time was when he ran to Smallville a week after the Thanagarians left, bored and lonely and wanting to talk to Clark. He found her in the Kents' kitchen, downing a half gallon of triple chocolate chunk faster than even he could.

This? Could be love.


	3. Debate

**Debate**

He thinks he's being cautious.

She thinks he's afraid.

He thinks it could damage their friendship.

She thinks they'll survive.

He thinks the last time two of their group became lovers, the world was almost destroyed.

She thinks those events would have unfolded regardless and might have ended worse.

He thinks they have too little in common.

She thinks they have just enough.

He thinks this isn't the right time.

She's an immortal and she knows there's never a right time, there is only ever right now.

He thinks she might be right, but he keeps that thought to himself.


	4. Detente

**Detente**

There are so many things we need to say.

I want to shake her until her teeth rattle, want to strike her until she feels what I did.

I want to yell, "I trusted you!"

I want to shout, "You were the first one on the team that I trusted, that I liked! The first one that I cared about if you liked me back."

I want to say, "I wanted to be friends. I thought we were, in our way."

I offer what I can. I tell her I've already forgiven her. She snaps back that she didn't ask.


	5. Etneted

**Etneted**

There are so many things we need to say.

I know she wants me to apologize. I know how close she came to losing everything because of me.

I want to shout, "I was following orders!"

I want to explain, "I was told you were in danger, all of you. I was told I was protecting you. I've seen what the Gordanians do to their prisoners, especially the females."

I want to say, "I lied, but I got lied to."

I want to say, "I'm sorry."

She tells me she already forgave me, but I'm getting better at recognizing lies.


	6. Choreography

**Choreography**

There were, he mused, two essential factors in destabilizing any group dynamic: animosity and attraction.

Animosity was easy. After all this time, the original seven still begrudged one another. The new members resented the founders. Everyone was suspicious of the spy.

And attraction ...

A woman bidden to follow a dark, brooding man who dared not love her back.

A man whose heart yearned in two directions, unable to choose.

Two golden lovers. A broken hunter and her blank-faced suitor. It was like a play, and he the prurient director under Cadmus' unenlightened eye.

Grodd pushed, and pushed, and pushed.


	7. Issues

**Issues**

"It was '98," said Ralph.

"I'm telling you," said Wally. "It was '99. And hers was paint."

"You're wrong, man."

"What," Superman cut in, "are the two of you talking about?"

"Which year Vixen was in the swimsuit issue."

"And if she _wore_ a swimsuit."

Superman reddened. "That's enough. Both of you."

"C'mon, Supes. Back me up."

"I don't look at magazines that exploit women."

Wally rolled his eyes behind his mask as Ralph stared.

"Ask Lantern," Batman intoned.

"No way," said Ralph.

"'01 and '02." All four turned their heads. "Mine wasn't painted on, though."

"Told you."

"Shut up."


	8. Blank Slate

**Blank Slate**

J'onn closed the door behind him. The remaining five, faces solemn, gathered close.

The Lantern was the first to speak: "How bad?"

"Flash's brain has been completely wiped. He is as an infant again." No one made the obvious joke. No one could.

"We'll take care of him," Superman said. "He'll never want for anything." He glanced at Batman, who nodded. "When he gets better ... "

"There is no guarantee," J'onn said. "I found nothing of the man we knew."

Lantern shuddered. Shayera touched his shoulder. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah. Just ... There but for the gaze of Grodd, go I."

* * *

A/N: I am a bad, bad monkey. - N.B.


	9. Esprit de Corps

**Esprit de Corps  
**(Spoilers for "Hunter's Moon")

Victory is bittersweet.

Tens of thousands of soldiers, obliterated by the last mad action of — Grnak spits — a _hero_. They have bought Gordania's safety with blood.

The military is no place for the tenderhearted, so Grnak does not allow himself to feel for their new slaves. The young, the elderly, the weak and infirm, these cannot be used to harvest Thanagar's resources and must be exterminated.

He examines captured documents, noting strengths, outposts, plans. Grnak reads a detailed report on a small, barbaric planet between Gordania and Thanagar.

An easy target might be precisely what they need to raise morale.


	10. Vain Gratuities

**Vain Gratuities**  
For evillittletwit and crhblack

Helena hadn't expected "normal" when she'd signed on for this relationship. So when they went to dinner and Question sat there gazing into the distance --- or sleeping, for all she knew --- while she picked at her penne and sipped her wine, she couldn't claim surprise. She was long used to staring down gawkers; she could ignore the whispers.

_("How do they kiss?")_

_("Is he blank ... everywhere?")_

After dinner, the darkness of the theatre rendered everything equal. While Q watched the screen impassively, his hand slid between the curve of her thighs and nothing had ever been so perfect.


	11. Jealousy

**Jealousy**

Mari senses something changing. When she sees John, she thinks he's going to take her aside and tell her it's over. Instead he asks her to dinner at his place.

After drinks, she excuses herself to use the powder room. She knows she shouldn't, but she pauses in his bedroom to slide her hand under his sheets.

The feather is small and white.

She brings it out to him, places it on the table without a word. He takes her hand, leads her unwillingly back to his room. Indicates the new pillow.

"It was for you. And hers are grey."


	12. Guidelines

**Guidelines**

Dating within the League makes sense. After what happened to Ralph's wife, and then what happened to Clark's, there's a feeling that bringing non-Leaguers into the kind of dangers associated with their lifestyle is unfair. There is no official rule, simply tacit approval when Flash breaks up with his human girlfriend and starts dating Kara. They aren't alone.

Some marriages occur. So do some divorces. Schedules change to accommodate old wounds and new liaisons. They forget, or ignore, the new dangers. Dinah is the first widow, Rex the first orphan.

Ten years after Bruce left her, Diana finally understands why.


	13. Experimentation

**Experimentation  
**(followup to Not Quite Wax)

Rex is nineteen and he has a friend who has a friend who won't ask questions. The splice is rare; humans have long memories, but there's always someone who wants a thrill. The package is warm in his hands, "Golden eagle" scribbled on it in unfamiliar handwriting.

He's arranged to be home alone all weekend. No one will see.

It's less painful than he expected. He can't stop looking at himself in the mirror.

Forty hours later, he starts to moult. His wings retract into his shoulders, and losing them again is more painful than he could have possibly imagined.


	14. The Arrangement

**The Arrangement**

It's a reasonable arrangement, and not even Kal comments.

Merina must marry an Atlantean noble, but her brother doesn't care when. Rex doubts he'll ever marry. He enjoys waking next to someone he's known forever, someone who recognizes all his scars both inside and out. He recognizes hers, too.

The rules are simple. Both can date as they please, with or without continuing the sex. Either can break it off with a word. No questions of the "Who" or "Why" variety. No talk of a future that can't be. No falling in love.

Rex has kept every rule but one.


	15. Nemesis

**Nemesis  
**(spoilers up through"Divided We Fall")

"It makes so much more sense now, doesn't it?" hisses her double as they spar.

"What?" asks Diana, not really listening, looking for an opening against her counterpart.

"The darkness you've felt growing inside you. The craving to kill and destroy. They've always been with you."

"I'm a warrior." She throws a punch, then dodges.

"You are your father's daughter, created to slaughter millions."

"That's the best you can do?"

"Your mother knows and fears what you're becoming." Her eyes flicker to the Batmen. "That's why you seek him out, you know. Darkness attracts darkness."

The kick sends Diana sprawling.

* * *

A/N: Yes, this one is cheating a little. The Lorder clones only knew what Luthor knew and he wouldn't have known about Hades. 


	16. The Reason

The Reason  
(spoilers for "Shadow of the Hawk")

Everything is crystal clear: his son, his future. He goes to tell Mari it's over. Before he can speak, she says, "Boo, I'm late." She explains it's probably nothing, something about body fat. John's not That Guy. He stays.

Two weeks later, she tells him it was a false alarm. He's relieved, but now isn't the time to break up with her.

A month passes, two. He takes her out and ends up spending the night. And suddenly they've been together a year.

Batman asks him why he's still with Mari, and John realizes he's become That Guy after all.


	17. Friendly Concern

Friendly Concern  
(spoilers for "Shadow of the Hawk")

Dinah looked Carter up and down, but waited until he was out of earshot before she leaned over. "He's creepy."

"He's not," Shayera replied. "Well, not very."

"I dunno," Zatanna said, eyeing the mask and fake wings. "He's very ... No, 'creepy' sums it up."

"He's got his good points."

Diana asked her, "Are you certain about this?"

"Carter," she called, instead. "Will you get me a drink?"

"Sure!" He scampered off and returned with a mango daiquiri.

"Thanks, dear," Shayera said. "Wanna go dancing later?"

"Sounds great!"

She glanced at the others, smiling around her straw.

"Objection withdrawn," Dinah said.


	18. Promise

**Promise**  
(inspired by BillA1's "The Space Between")

Shayera's stomach flutters, but Hro is here with her, and he loves her.

She doesn't have many female friends, and only one has spoken of this moment. "It burns for a few minutes," Kalan warned her. "Better to do it quickly." Shayera has been shot, gashed, and stabbed; she tells herself she isn't afraid of a little pain.

Still, her skin is sensitive to the lightest touch as Hro's hands move. A stretch, a tear, and she gasps. She hopes there isn't much blood.

At his concerned expression, she lies: "It's fine." Hro kisses her, then pierces her other ear.


	19. Painless

**Painless  
**(spoilers up through "I Am Legion")

The five Leaguers, disarmed, pace in their cages under the closed-circuit cameras.

"Want to watch one commit suicide?" Grodd asks, smiling at the hungry assent from his companions.

He pushes.

"They hate you. They took you back out of pity but they despise you. No one trusts you. You destroy everything you touch. You know he cursed your name as he burned.

"Traitor.

"Whore."

He tosses her a weapon. Her fingers wrap around the grip as her breath hitches.

Another push. _Do it._ "End the pain," he coaxes. Shayera closes her eyes, and fires.

Dead center between Grodd's eyes.


	20. Lost Bet

**Lost Bet**  
(spoilers up through SotH)

"That's it," Shayera said, fed up with the insinuations. "One dollar. Everybody in. Whoever's had the most 'fun' wins. I'll go first. Three." Lantern glanced at her. "Got a question, Number Two?"

Scowling, John dropped his money. "Four."

"This isn't appropriate … " Superman started.

"You don't want to know if Lois was a notch on Bruce's bedpost?"

Superman hesitated. "Three. Wait, no, four."

"Flash?"

"Shut up."

"Fine, none. J'onn?"

"Martians mate for life."

"Bruce?"

A long pause. "Five. No names."

"Princess?"

"Just one man." No surprises there. Except …

"How many women?"

"Oh. Nine."

Stares.

The comments ceased immediately.


End file.
